Railway-car.



H. L. KEER.

RAILWAY CAR.

APPLIGATION FILED 1930.28. 1899.

PATENTED APR. 24, 1906.

No. 818,629. PATBNTBD APR. 24, 1906. H. L. KBRR.

RAILWAY CAR.

' APPLICATION TILE .28, 89

D DEU 1 9 3 SHEETS-SHEET Z 311 ocu l'oz:

SHEET 3 3 SHEETS PATENTED APR. 24, 1906.

H. L. KEER. RAILWAY GAR. PPLloATIoN FILED 1920.29.1899.

[uw c/wkoz UNrrED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HANFORD LESTER KERR, OF KANSAS CITY, KANSAS.

RAILWAYHCAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 24, 1906.

Application filed December 28, 1899. Serial No. 741,850.

to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain new and useful im rovements in railway-cars, and particular y to that class of cars used for the transportation of fruits, vegetables, or other perishable cargoes, and has for its object to reduce such a car in which a constant circuation of air at a predetermined temperature is provided.

This invention consists of an ordinary boxcar being provided with a number of watertroughs with perforated coverings arranged longitudinally along the iioor of the car and having steam or hot-water pipes passing therethrough. At either end of the car is a screenpartition, forming an end compartment which is provided with air-shafts leading from a screened opening near the to of the car to several fans discharging into the main body of the car. A suitable shaft is journaled in this compartment and is driven from the car-axle by means'of a flexible belt and serves to operate the several fans before mentioned, as well as a pumping mechanism which is adapted to draw water from one of the troughs and spray it across the air-shafts at the screened opening.

Wvith the above and other objects in view my invention further consists in the novel details of construction and combination of parts to be clearly described in the following specification and fully set forth in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which like characters of reference indicate same parts throughout, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a car embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a vertical crosssection of the car, taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section of the water-pump. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a section of the flooring, showing the construction of the water-troughs and their coverings. Fig. 6 is a transverse section through an end trough, showing the elbow feed and discharge connection g and Fig. 7 is a vertical section of one of the water-troughs at one of its partitions.

In the drawings, 1 re resents the car-body, formed with double wa ls having a non-heatconducting material, such as wool or the like, packed therebetween. Between the longitudinal carrying-beams 2 of the car are arranged a number of water ans or troughs 3, which have their upper edpges turned outward and seated in rabbets along the upper edges of the carrying-beams. In these rabbets are also fitted -pairs of transversely-slotted coverplates 4, the upper one of each pair having a sliding t between upturned flanges of the lower one and lying flush with the top surface of the carrying-beams. A series of steam-heating pipes 5 extends along the bottoms of the troughs and has suitable pipe connection with the engine, whereby the contents of the troughs may be heated by hot water or steam from the engine to maintain the proper temperature in the car during cold Weather.

To revent the water contained within the troug s from rushing to one end of the car when the car is starting or stopping, I pro-` vide at short intervals in each trough suitable vertical crossartitions 6, having erforations therein w Ych allow of a gradua flow of water therethrough, as is occasioned in filling or discharging, but which are sufciently small to resist any sudden flow as that mentioned. The several troughs are in communication with each other by means of the pipe 7, which-extends across the car and is tapped to the bottom of each trough. For filling and emptying the troughs an elbow 8 is employed which'is ta ped to one side trough with a loose joint that it may be turned either in an upward direction to receive and retain water for the troughs or in a downward direction to discharge the`water from the troughs. It will thus be seen that the troughs may be filled with water to a desired depth by pouring into the elbow the water passing from the first trough to all the other troughs throu h the pipe 7, thus being distributed over t e bottom of the car and serving as a cooling agent in warm weather by its evaporation, the pairs of cover-plates being arranged with their perfora tions in register for this purpose.

As the .air-circulating mechanism is the same at each end of the car, it is deemed sufficient for the purposes of this specification to describe that at one end only.

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Near the end of the car a vertical wirescreen protecting-partition 9 is located, which eXtends entirely acrossthe `carand from the bottom, which to this line is closed nearly to the top, forming -an end compartment in 'which air is received at the front end of the car, passed through a spray of water to remove the dust particles, and then into the car-body proper, all by mechanism now to be v described. Y Y

A shaft 10' is mounted in suitable Ajournals just above the floor of the lcar and receives its motion from the car-axle 11 by means of afleXible rope or cable 12, assing over the pulleys 13 and 14 on the a e and shaft, respectively. To compensate for the rocking motion of the car, the pulley 14 is provided with a double groove, and the rope 12 after passing around one groove, suspends a' weighted pulley15, free to move between the beams of the car, and then passes up and around the other groove of the pulley 14. Thus the swingin or rocking of the car on its trucks does noty estroy the driving connection between the axle and the shaft.

Depending from the roof of the car and eX- tending from side to side' thereof is a 'cross-'- partition 16 between the screen-partition 9 and the end'of the car. This cross-partition has a squarecut-away portion in the middle of its lower end and has a pair of gutters 17, extending from about its lcenter to near the lower corners, just escaping the square cutaway ortion. A screened opening 18 is forme in the end of the-'car just beneath the roof, throu' h which air is admitted and deiiected by t e cross-partition 16 to the lower part ofthe compartment. A spray-pipe 19, located just beneath the screened openin 18, is adapted to spray water in a thin s eet across the opening or air-passage between the end of the car and the cross-partition 16, and this water on striking the partition 16 and running down same is gathered by the gutters 17 and conveyed by the dpipes 20 back to the troughs. The water is fe to the spraypipe 19 from one of the troughs by means of a pump 21, of ordinary construction, operated by an eccentric and strap 21 on the shaft 10 and connected with the spray-pipe by the pipe 22. This pump, as shown in Fi 4, is of a common construction, with a cy 'nder a, plunger-piston b, inlet check-valvec, outlet check-valve d, and air-dome e.

A central air-shaft is formed by a pair of parallel side plates 23, extending from the top of the caras far down as the lower end of the cross-partition 16 and from the end of. the'car to an inclined plate 24, which slants from the top of the screen-partition 9 to the Vbottom of the cross-partition 16, and these side plates are as far apart as the side edges of the square opening in cross-partition throu h which they pass. It will be seen that t e central air-shaft thus formed between the passing side plates 23, inclined plate 24, the end of the car, and the cross-partition 16 is of V shape, the air passing in through the screened opening 18, between thev side plates 23, down through the water-spray, then through the square cut-away portion of the cross-partition 16, and up between the inclined plate 24 and the cross-partition 16, 'and finally discharging through the space above the screen-- partition 9, into the car. To facilitate this motion, a fan 25 is journaled in the central air-shaft above the inclined plate 24 and opposite the discharge-openin and is driven by a belt 26, connecting its pu ley -with a pulley 27 on 'the shaft 10 and passing'through suitable perforations 28 in the inclined plate 24. The Aair admitted-through the screened opening 18 on either side of the central shaft after through the water-spray flows down aroun the cross-partition .16 and out through the screen-'partition 9 into the body Y of the car, which movement is facilitated by the-blast-fans 29, located on opposite sides of the car and operated by the shaft 10. v

From the foregoing it will be seen that air is vtaken in at the upper part of the forward end of the. car, where it isjdivide'd to passy throu h a central shaft and side shafts and after ein filtered thro h a line water is ischarged fordibly into portions of the car-body, while similar mech,

anism at the rear end of the car, operating in an opposite manner, assists the circulation of air through the car by forcing it out at the rear.

A car as thus constructed is particularly well ada ted for the transportation of fruits,

lvegetab es, or other perishable cargo, as a kconstant circulationfof fresh air is assured the discharge end thereof side air-shafts also taldng air from the opening and discharging beneath the discharge of the central airshaft, a pair of fans for facilitating the passage of air through the side shafts and means connected with the car-axle for driving the several fans, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the character described, a car-body, water-troughs located between the carryin -beams thereof, sliding perforated covers or the water-troughs, said car-body having an opening in its end, a central airshaft taking air from the opening and diss s ra'y of different IOO ITO

charging it near the top of the car, side airshafts also taking air from the opening and discharging it below the discharge of the central air-shaft, fans located in the several airshafts, a shaft suitably journaled, meansfor driving the fans from the shaft, a pump operated by the shaft and adapted to take water from the troughs and spray it across the air-shafts, and gutters adapted to carry off water from the sprays and return it to the troughs, substantially as described.

3. ln a device of the character described, a car-body having an air-opening in the end thereof, a V-shaped central air-shaft, taking air from the opening and discharging it in the upper part of the car, an air-fan located at the discharge end thereof, side air-shafts also taking air from the opening and discharging beneath the discharge of the central airshaft, and a pair of fans for facilitating the passage of air through the side air-shafts.

4. In a device of the character described, a car-body, water-troughs located between the carrying-beams thereof and open to the interior of the car, said car-body havin an opening in its end, a central air-shaft ta g air from the openin and discharging it near the top of the car, side air-shafts also taking air from the opening and discharging it below the discharge of the central air-shaft, fans located in the several air-shafts, a pum adapted to take water from the troughs an spray it across the air-shafts, and gutters in the airshafts to return the Water to the troughs.

In testimony whereof I azc my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HANFORD LESTER KERR.

Witnesses C. W; KERR, JAMES L. SMALLEY.

sis 

